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A7 near Hildesheim: One of the two manhole covers that were thrown off broke through the windshield of a car
Photo:
Clemens Heidrich / dpa
It is every driver's nightmare: two manhole covers were thrown from a motorway bridge near Hildesheim onto the A7 on Saturday night and caused a serious accident.
The police have now arrested a suspect.
One of the manhole covers had hit a moving car and smashed through the windshield, police said.
The 52-year-old driver was seriously injured, his 43-year-old passenger critically.
Rescue workers treated the two injured people from Baden-Württemberg and took them to a hospital.
The 43-year-old is now out of danger, police said.
The second manhole cover and stones landed on the opposite lane and damaged at least four vehicles there.
The suspect is a 50-year-old man from the Hildesheim district.
The police and public prosecutor announced that he had been targeted during the search for the crime.
The suspect is due to be brought before a magistrate this Sunday.
Further details were not initially known.
The police set up a homicide squad.
Several cases of attempted homicide were investigated.
According to a police spokeswoman, the manhole covers were thrown off a bridge that crosses the autobahn between the towns of Hasede and Asel north of Hildesheim.
Both lids and larger stones were secured and should be examined for traces, the police said.
According to initial findings, the manhole covers came from an industrial area in Harsum.
People repeatedly throw stones and manhole covers
The autobahn between Hanover and Kassel was closed in both directions between the autobahn triangle Hannover-Süd and Hildesheim-Drispenstedt until Saturday afternoon.
Investigators asked the public for help.
Officials said they were looking for information about a person on a bicycle.
She is about 1.80 meters tall, slim and has short gray hair.
In recent years there have been repeated cases in Lower Saxony in which stones and manhole covers have been thrown onto roadways.
In 2016, two manhole covers were thrown from a bridge onto the A27 near Walsrode in the Heidekreis.
Motorists escaped with a fright.
In 2008, a six-kilogram wooden block thrown from a motorway bridge near Oldenburg smashed through the window of a car, killing a 33-year-old woman.
A court sentenced the then 31-year-old perpetrator to life imprisonment.
jpa/dpa
